Painless Effective Progression: An Update
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I’ve received a number of emails about the painless, effective progression articles that have appeared in the hard
copy Master Trainer and on this site. The emails indicate that people liked the article, understood the process,
but wanted to know when I will write something about other approaches to progressive training. My response to the emails is that the approach that I described is straightforward, easy to apply, makes sense physiologically, and is effective. In all my years of training, I have not found anything that is more effective. If you like a goal-oriented approach to extrinsic, progressive training, this is it. I thought that providing another example will convince more readers that this is a very viable approach. And, if the example was for a ‘big’ traditional movement then that may be even more convincing. The new example added toward the end of this article is with the stiff legged deadlift. An extended update on this article with more points about training will appear in the February 2006 issue of Master Trainer. (subscribe) Small Increases:Recent articles in Master Trainer have advocated progressing in workouts with small marginal increases in workload. A workload is not increased unless there is evidence of adaptation. This means in cardiovascular training that a workload is only increased when a heart rate monitor or other monitoring and feedback methods show that a prescribed workload now takes you just below your target heart rate. In resistance training, this means that over the course of workouts while keeping the same excellent form you have increased repetitions and time under load to a target level. It is now time to marginally increase the resistance.This type of training and progression requires consistency and patience. It also helps a great deal if the training itself is enjoyable and feedback showing some marginal improvement is just part of the process and not the whole matter. The approach is the opposite of what you will find in most magazines, books, and websites that have anything to do with bodybuilding, weight loss, or related activity. What’s promoted are techniques, supplements, diets, and routines that will lead to instant transformation and presumably, instant gratification. Most experienced trainees know that quick metamorphoses really are not possible. In theory using a long string of marginal improvements seems possible. But how does this approach work in practice? Practice: I have four different examples with accompanying data of putting this theory into practice. The examples are works in progress because I do not believe I am near the end of progressing with the exercises. The use of small marginal increases in a training load only makes sense if you stick to a given protocol and do it correctly. If you are all over the place with a protocol, you can’t readily see if you’ve actually improved. For example, let’s say one time you do the workpart of an aerobic training protocol at 80% of your maximum heart rate as called for by the protocol. The next time you increase the workload and your heart rate is close to 90% of maximum at the end. Then it’s not clear how the two can be compared or how you would know if you improved. You also have to do the protocol correctly. If, you are supposed to do the workpart of an aerobic training protocol at 85% of your maximum heart rate then do it at 85%. The same points pertain to resistance training. If it’s repetitions that are performed taking 4 seconds to raise the weight and 4 seconds to lower the weight, then that’s the protocol. You can’t drift to 3,3 reps and count those reps. And, here is another point to consider that at first will seem redundant but it isn’t. Only try to progress on movements where you currently are doing the exercise in absolutely perfect form. If you’re not using perfect form, you are likely using a resistance that is really too heavy for you. One outcome from use of less than perfect form is that you will add more weight and reps and continue with less than perfect form. Another potential outcome is that if the resistance is really too much for you – hence, your form is compromised – you will add weight and reps and then end up injuring yourself. A more benign outcome is that because the weight is really too heavy for you, you will simply make no progress. Concept 2 Rower:The first example involves the Concept 2 Rower. I just started to use the rower again after an 18-month hiatus.My goal is obtaining and maintaining a ‘good level of fitness’. It’s important to concretely define your goals. My fitness goal is to be able to do the workpart of my aerobic training protocol at 80% to 85% of my maximum heart rate with a workload of 12 METs (42 mL/kg/min). I picked 12 METS for two reasons. First, I’m confident that I can reach that level over time on the Concept 2 Rower because I can do that on the Air Dyne. Second, based on data from thousands of men and women1, the ability to regularly achieve that level signifies that I’m in the top group for aerobic fitness for my gender and age group. There’s no reason for health and disease prevention to get any fitter. Walking at four miles per hour on about 13% grade is another example of about a 12 METs workload. On the Air Dyne, it’s level 4.2 that’s 12 METs for a 150 lb person. These are not spectacular ‘age group’ marks but they are good benchmarks for fitness at my age if you’re at this workload but with only 80% to 85% of your aerobic capacity. I’ve also given myself some leeway. I’m not a machine and some training days I may be tired or perhaps distressed about work or some personal matters. I’m not going to have as a standard never going beyond 80%. But, it is pretty obvious during a workpart of a protocol if you are getting well into the anaerobic range and your heart rate is rapidly increasing. If that happened, then I’d be doing a different protocol and the work level I achieved would not be meaningful and could not be compared to workouts performed at a lower percent of my aerobic capacity. Consistent with tracking my progress and achieving this goal, I’ve performed the same protocol on the rower with the same heart rate guidelines as I’ve done before with the Air Dyne. It’s an extended Graded Exercise Protocol. I do a graded 8-minute warm-up that takes me to about 80% of my maximum heart rate. I then do a 5-minute workpart at about 80%- 85% of my maximum heart rate. This is followed by 12 minutes at about 75% to 80% of my maximum heart rate. Finally, I do a 5-minute graded cooldown where I end at about 55% to 60% of my maximum heart rate. I’ve found the 30-minute sessions are enjoyable and with some favorite music in the background, the time goes by quickly. I wanted to approach progressions in a way that was systematic and painless. That’s different from how I used to use the rower. Years ago every workout on the rower was done with very hard intervals and a great deal of soreness the next day. The way I had used the rower made overall recovery from training difficult and undermined resistance training. Because of the seated and bent forward position on the rower, I also found in the past that very hard rowing led to a breathless sensation that was not very pleasant. At this point with the goal of fitness and 12 METs in the workpart, I did not want to do anything that I find aversive. Nor, is there ever any reason to do so. This approach this time around has been different. Here is how I try to improve. For successive workouts, I simply perform each part of the workout with a slightly higher workload. Because of the rower’s precision monitor, making small increments is easy to do. I primarily rely on the feedback about my pace for completing 500 meters. In other words, one of the options is to have your rowing rate expressed as your pace for 500 meters. For example, if I successfully kept to my heart rate range for the five-minute work part of my protocol at a 2:10 pace, then the next workout I would do the first 3½ minutes at 2:10 and the last 1½ minutes at 2:09. I can perform similar very small increments throughout the protocol. I’ve rowed on average once per week. I also use the Air Dyne once per week. My goal for the progressions in the rowing sessions as I’ve noted was to be able to comfortably perform the five-minute workpart of the protocol at a 12 MET level. On the Concept-2 Rower for a 150 lb person that is 2:05 pace for the entire five minutes. Notice that the 2:05 pace is not a race pace or a pace where I’m close to exhausted at the end with my heart rate soaring. It’s a good, moderately hard pace. The Table below shows my successive workouts not including the very first one that was performed at an easier, break-in level.
*Goal pace Incline Curls:How well can the same approach work with a resistance training exercise I’ve been using for years?The first exercise that I choose was the low incline dumbbell curl, with the incline set at 30 degrees. I use the same exact position for my body and the same range of motion and time (8 seconds up and 4 seconds down) for each repetition. In the past, whenever I tried to increase resistance, I always increased resistance too quickly and inevitably got stuck (too few reps) with 46 lb dumbbells. I had not used more than that in this exercise for years often staying at 43 lbs to 44 lbs. Years ago when I was using more resistance, my reps were done for a much shorter duration and my range of motion was not as complete as it is now. I also was not nearly as consistent with my form or repetition duration meaning that one workout could not be legitimately compared to another. The incline curls were performed once per week at the same point in a particular workout. I did each repetition in exactly the same way. I took 8 seconds to raise the weight and 4 seconds to lower the weight. It took me 6 to 8 weeks to progress from 3 repetitions (36 seconds) to 5 complete repetitions (60 seconds) with the same resistance, e.g., 44 lb dumbbells. That means for some weeks I did not progress or barely progressed. When I could do 5 perfect repetitions, I increased the dumbbells by 1 lb each and started with 3 repetitions and a couple of times, with 4 repetitions. Last week I used 50 lbs dumbbells and performed 5 perfect repetitions. Based on my beginning weight, my increase has been about 13%, an increase that is excellent for a very long-time trainee. Because the repetitions are precise as is my timing of the set, I know the increment is real. Lateral Raises:The second resistance training exercise is lateral raises on a second generation Nautilus machine.The size and the movement on the Nautilus machine is just a perfect fit for me. I can use a good deal of resistance safely and effectively. I had dropped this movement for a few months and now returned to it with the goal of surpassing what I did previously. I had been using a 4-seconds up and 4-seconds down protocol and got up to 150 x 6 repetitions (48 seconds). I wanted to see if I could get to the same point, or perhaps beyond, with even more challenging repetitions. By challenging I mean that even more focus would be required and the longer duration concentric part of the repetition could further reduce momentum. I’m now performing each repetition no quicker than 8, 4 and some repetitions at 10, 5. I perform one set once per week after one set of Nautilus military presses. To keep it precise, I perform the lateral raise movement ~75 seconds after the press movement. My progression so far has been: 140, 4 reps, 60 seconds; 145, 4, 50; 145, 4, 52; 145, 4, 55; 145, 4, 56; 145, 4, 60; 145, 5, 65; 150, 4, 50; 150, 5, 60; 155,4, 48; 155,4, 52; 155, 5,60; 160,4,48; 160,4,54; 160,5,60. Stiff-Legged Deadlift:Here is the background of my performance of the stiff-leg deadlift. It’s a movement that I’ve performed for over 35 years. I like doing this movement because it has a great effect on many muscle groups.Up to about two years ago, I used 10% to 15% more resistance than I do now but for fewer repetitions and for a lower time under load. I found in the past two years, however, that exceeding about 330 lbs with this movement resulted in sore elbows and shoulders with no noticeable greater benefit for my lower back and hamstrings than a lower weight. I do not exceed that weight anymore. I always perform this movement in the same way. I use grips because I have small hands. I do slightly bend my knees because I do not belief that keeping your legs truly straight is safe form. The bar travels down midway down to the middle of my shins. Given Olympic plates on the bar, I can’t really go much lower. I do not perform an exaggerated range of motion and I definitely do not stand on a platform to reach a larger range of motion. Over numerous workouts, the stiff leg deadlift always was performed as the fourth movement in a lower body workout: squats, leg extension, leg press, stiff-leg deadlift (followed by other movements). I do no warm-up sets for any lower body movement except for initial warm-up sets for the squat. This approach works well for me but I believe most people would be safer with one or two warm-up sets when using a lot of resistance in the deadlift. I perform one set per week in this movement. I’ve noted the consistent range of motion that I use. I also try to perform each repetition using a four seconds positive and four second negative duration (about 8 seconds per repetition). The actual duration is usually just shorter than 4,4 (see below). I never perform an absolute last repetition. I believe doing that in a training session with the deadlift is simply crazy. If you break form in this movement, you will get a big time injury. Over the last two years while I’ve stayed below the 330 level, I haven’t performed more than seven repetitions with 320 lbs. The best time under load was about 50 seconds. That also means that my repetition duration was off just a bit. A challenging, interesting, and seemingly achievable goal was to perform eight repetitions with 320 lbs as close to the 4 second positive and 4 seconds negative duration as possible. I was aiming to increase my time under load by 10-14 seconds and add one repetition to a previous best with the same resistance. For a long-time, older trainee, I believe this is a reasonable goal and a very good accomplishment if (when) the goal is reached. Here are data from a long series of workouts. There were two workouts when I used less resistance. I was tired and just ‘backed-off’. The entire progression wasn’t quite as linear as the three described previously in this article. I did not use the more precise micro-loading approach that I used with the incline curl and in a similar way with the Concept-2 Rower. Whether with micro-loading the progression on the stiff-leg deadlift would have been more linear is an interesting question. The progression: 300 x 8 (~55 seconds); 300 x 9 (~62); 275 x 5 (~52); 300 x 10 (~67); 300 x 11 (~70); 280 x 6 (~56); 300 x 10 (~65); 305 x 8 (~56); 310 x 8 (~56); 315 x 7 (~50); 320 x 8 (~53); 320 x 7 (~50); 320 x 8 (~62). Despite a pattern of progression that is not completely linear, I was able in the last workout to reach a new level with this resistance for eight repetitions and for time under load. I reached my goal. There was even more than the great sense of accomplishment from reaching this level and goal. I had absolutely no pain in my elbows or shoulders. In that way, despite the nonlinear progression trend, everything worked perfectly. Conclusion:I suppose some people may consider the progression in the rower, incline curl,lateral raise and the deadlift meager and unexciting. I’m sure some people feel that training in the same way week-after-week gets boring. However, if you pick the exercises you enjoy doing and like their feel (whether cardiovascular or resistance training), performing each exercise is pleasurable and not boring. Seeing yourself improve, slowly but surely, adds to the enjoyment and reinforces the entire process.If everything is perfect – you stick to a protocol, your form is superb and the same each time out, what happens when you reach an end point? Clearly, there comes a time when you can no longer progress on a protocol or exercise. There are many options to consider. Here are just a few. For my aerobic training, I do not want to go beyond 12 METs for the workpart of the protocol. Given my goals, there is simply no reason to do that. I’ve reduced the workload and now I’m working my way back up while rowing at a lower percent of my aerobic capacity. For resistance training, there are dozens of exercises to choose from. For example, I’m now performing similar progressions with the pulldown, machine pullover, and Smith squat. And, even for old favorites there are different ways to perform the same exercise through changes in repetition duration and time under load. The progression process appears endless and that’s the whole idea. References
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